• collage by Seth M. Smith VI
• Fall Up The Stairs

One of the benefits of having the Morris Graves Museum in our midst is its ability to mount exhibits from outside our area. Starting on July Arts Alive! the Graves hosts a show called "Fiber Enriched" from California Fiber Artists, a group of diverse independent artists dedicated to promoting fiber art through public exhibitions and educating the public. Vibrant fiber sculpture, basketry, quilts and fiber mixed media will be displayed. Other worthy shows at the Graves are listed on its new full page here in Muse.

Visual Threads: Photographs by Mothers and Daughters is a heartfelt show at Swanlund's Camera (527 F St.) with photos by three woman and their three daughters from their travels abroad in recent years. You'll be able to meet the photographers at their July 2, Arts Alive! reception.

Studio S (717 Third St.), always a must-see gallery for Arts Alive!, feature a jazz trio and, of course, displays its stable of artists. Georgia Long has new work there this month as well as Eric Furman.

Seth M. Smith VI holds forth on the tall walls at the Art Center Frame Shop (616 Second St.). Seth showed often at the former Accident Gallery. His new work uses photomontage techniques he is justly known for. One of my favorite pieces, Fall Up The Stairs, presents the viewer with a dizzying vista of an unnamed place that seems vaguely familiar yet exotic. I think Seth may be trying to encourage us to get off our duffs, get out the door and down the road of life, change our perspectives even if we have to fall up the stairs. Serious fun!

Speaking of fun, Courtney Jackson and hubby Gary Silver and the crew at Little Shop of Hers are celebrating their one-year anniversary this July showing photography by Joel Gibson of the band Manilapede -- the shop itself is a work to behold. Stop in and give them your congrats. Bret Bailey of The Solitary Men will be there singing Neil Diamond covers (solo) during Arts Alive!

For Arts! Arcata the Robert Goodman Wines Good Taste Tasting Room (937 10th St.) is collaborating with Humboldt Arts Project to showcase paintings by Rob Hampson (powerful energetic oils) and Yuma Lynch (evocative coastal landscapes) starting July 5. HAP also has its first themed show, the perhaps patriotic Red, White, & Blue! up and running for July Arts! Arcata at the Ironside Gallery (Ninth and I St.), Jambalaya (Ninth and H St.), and Humboldt Brews (10th and I St). Artists have been given the go to interpret these highly-charged symbolic colors in any manner they choose. This should be good.

That powerhouse of creativity, Hunter Plaid Gallery (90 Sunny Brae Center), is planning a two-month-long extravaganza called An Aggregation Of Artistic Aptitude starting July 8, Arts! Arcata.    

Richard Duning and Madeline McMurray have been collaborating for over four years on executing deeply personal paintings that draw on Jungian psychology and dreams for inspiration. A selection of their works will be presented at the Upstairs Art Gallery (1063 G St.) during July.

There's also McKinleyville Arts Night the third Friday of each month. Among July's shows, an exhibit at Blake's Books with photographs by Hal Work of faces and places around McKinleyville. The third Friday is also the night for Ferndale After Five, which this July 15 is partially focused on the centennial of Fernbridge with at least a couple of shows featuring bridge art and another with historic photos of the region.

The first ever Trinidad Art Night took place in June and there's a second one coming Friday, July 1. Seventeen businesses and points of interest will be open to the public, including the Trinidad Art Gallery with an open poetry night. All you need to know can be found at the user-friendly website, www.TrinidadArtNights.com.

It's great to see communities coming together around the arts and showing their appreciation for friends and neighbors who are making creative, artistic contributions in their community. The Journal aims to cover art happenings far and wide in this new art section, Muse. Give us a chance to catch up and give us a hand by sending all the good news to our Art Beat address: artbeat@northcoastjournal.com.